Netherlands Overwhelmed by Rise in Asylum Seekers, Foreign Workers, and Students

Netherlands is currently seeing a rise in asylum seekers, foreign worker and students as never before.

The Dutch Immigration and Naturalisation Service has revealed that it does not have the full capacity to process a large number of asylum applications within the legal time period, as the number is increasing of highly skilled and labor migrants and international student requests.

SchengenVisaInfo.com reported that the service also claimed to have recently been required to support more detailed decisions which require additional time and attention to be processed.

The second Performance Update details the various obstacles that the IND faces in fulfilling its societal roles. It insists that overcoming these issues requires a fundamentally different approach to migration policies.

Rhodia Maas is the general director of IND. She says that IND has had to deal with many more applications in the past than they were able to handle.

"Until now, we have been able to decide on more applications than we promised in advance. Despite this, it takes longer until applicants get clarity about their future in the Netherlands. This long period of uncertainty is horrible," Mass also mentioned.

She revealed that IND and the Ministry of Justice and Security agree every year on the number of applications to be processed. She added that one year was not enough to build a stable organization. Mass stated that IND must be able see five years ahead to build a solid foundation.

In its second Performance Update, the IND highlights other issues and challenges in its operations, in addition to the increasing and unpredictable number in residency and naturalisation requests.

The IND reveals in this Performance Update that:

• The volume of applications is increasing at an unpredictable rate
• The complexity of policy is increasing
• Unintentional impact of legislation on operations
• The number of criminal cases is on the rise
• Contact with applicants is excessive and unnecessary
• The methods of information dissemination are out-dated
• IND lawyers increasingly available in courts of law

In order to understand why and how the assessment of asylum claims has become harder, the IND recently investigated the way it assessed claims over the past 12 years.

According to the same authority, family members such as fathers, mothers and children can enter the Netherlands if they have an asylum residence permit. This also includes adult children who can apply for asylum on their own and start a family.

IND also stated that the increasing and changing number and types of applications has a significant impact on its services, particularly the telephone line and the desk. IND, in collaboration with other organizations within the Ministry of Justice and Security is looking for solutions.

Source: schengenvisainfo.com